The French lake district

Where to eat and drink in the French lake district

LAC D'ANNECY
There's one place on Lac d'Annecy that anyone with even a passing
interest in the preparation and consumption of food should not
miss. (Not the famous Maison de Marc Veyrat - following a bad
skiing accident, Veyrat hung up his hat.) Now, the culinary
imperative is Clos des Sens at 13 rue Jean Mermoz
(00 33 4 50 23 07 90; www.closdessens.com) in Annecy-le-Vieux, site
of the city's original Roman settlement and now a leafy suburb that
feels like the Hampstead of Annecy. Laurent Petit's cuisine is
radical and showy, but also firmly rooted in the territory, not to
mention the realms of what actually tastes good. My starter,
jeunes pousses de légumes croquants, looked like an
abstract painting by an artist with a penchant for the colour
green; it was one of the best salads I have ever eaten, full of
surprising herbal notes. The real party piece, though, was a
dessert: papierde sucre et citron Kalamansi, a
'cellophane' bubble (actually made of pure sugar) with a fluffy
lemon sorbet inside. It's not just the food that's good here, but
also the contemporary design, centred upon rusted metal fixtures
and installations made by a local artisan, and the friendly,
well-trained waiting staff. Clos des Sens doesn't miss a beat, and
it's not prohibitively expensive: allow €80 a head à la carte
without wine, less if you opt for one of the taster menus such as
the €48, five-course InSensé option.

The other great Lac d'Annecy meal of my visit was at Le
Confidentiel (0033 4 50 44 00 68), a tiny restaurant that
only opened in June 2010 at 24 route des Moulins in the village of
Menthon St-Bernard, on the lake's east coast. It has no lake view,
no outside tables, and the interiors
are pleasant but unexceptional; but the food - creative regional
cooking by a chef who spent five years in the kitchens of Clos des
Sens - is fantastic, and unbelievable value for money. A starter
and a main will set you back €23; go the whole hog and order three
courses and you'll pay the royal sum of €30.

The grande dame of the handful of upmarket restaurants
in Talloires is L'Auberge du Père Bise (see Where
to stay, above; prix fixe from €76 per person; à la carte about
€125 per person without wine). I never did work out whether it was
Cate Blanchett who was dining with friends at a frustrating
distance from my alfresco table for one; perhaps I was just
influenced by the surroundings. This is the sort of place where
guests arrive by private motor launch - and the lakeshore setting
is ravishing. But after my lunch at Clos des Sens, I found the
old-school cuisinetrès correcte(by which the French mean dull) and
the atmosphere rathersnob.

Back in Annecy, Contresens at 10 rue de la
Poste (00 33 4 50 51 22 10; prix fixe from €19) is a good-value
informal café-restaurant just a couple of blocks north of the old
town. And if you're exploring the southern reaches of the lake, you
could do worse than drop in for lunch or dinner at Chez Ma
Cousinein Doussard (00 33 4 50 32 38 83; www.chezmacousine.fr; prix fixe from €29). It's
a bright and lively place with waterside tables, fusion-tinged
Savoyard dishes and a buzzy aperitif scene.

LAC DU BOURGET
Bourget's gastronomic capital is the unassuming little town of Le
Bourget-du-Lac in the lake's south-western corner. Just back from
the lakeside beach, La Grange à Sel (00 33 4 79 25
02 66; www.lagrangeasel.com; set menus from €38, à la
carte about €64 per person without wine) offers a pretty garden and
regional gourmet cuisine that is competent but perhaps a little too
fussy; on the slope above the lakeside hamlet of Bourdeau, just to
the north, Le Bateau Ivre in the Ombremont hotel
is a traditional cordon bleu temple with prices to match
(about €111 per person without wine). But it was two other,
better-value Le Bourget restaurants that impressed me.

The first was Atmosphères, in a semi-rural
hillside position north of town, with views across the lake to the
great massif of Mont Revard, which flares up crimson in the setting
sun. It's a good backdrop for Alain Perillat-Mercerot's inventive
cuisine, based on local ingredients so obsessively sourced that the
menu even tells you who caught the fish: my lavaret,
cooked at low temperature and accompanied by a celery vinaigrette
and Noiray mushrooms, was hooked by a certain Olivier Parpillon. It
was delicious. Service is affable, the decor of the restful
minimalist variety, and the prices reasonable for a
Michelin-starred restaurant, especially if you opt for one of the
prix-fixe menus, from €29 (lunch; Mon/ Thurs/Fri) to €80.

The other Bourget highlight was the Auberge
Lamartine on Route du Tunnel du Chat (00 33 4 79 25 01 03;
www.lamartine-marin.com). It gets everything
right: location, decor, service, and Pierre Marin's light, healthy
and playful menu. I'm not normally a fan of foams, but an
amuse-bouche of truffle-infused potato foam with a single steamed
asparagus by its side was just perfect; and the rest of my lunch
was equally good. The €27 lunch menu (Tues/Thurs/Fri only) is
excellent value, but so is the four-course 'Menu Enchanteur' at
€44, available all week for lunch or dinner.

For an entirely different view, keep going through the Tunnel du
Chat and turn right at Yenne for the village of Jongieux, where the
Auberge Les Morainières on Route de Marétel (00 33
4 79 44 09 39; www.les-morainieres.com; prix fixe from €28; à
la carte about €78 per person without wine) looks over vineyards to
the high Rhône valley. Chef Michael Arnoult does a contemporary
gourmet version of traditional Savoyard country cooking, and lunch
on the veranda or inside the tastefully revamped stone wine cellar
is a delight.

LAC D'AIGUEBELETTE
Pretty Aiguebelette demands a picnic with a bottle of local
Roussette de Savoie wine and a hunk of sapid local Beaufort or
Reblochon cheese; but if you need something more than déjeuner
sur l'herbe there are some serviceable lakeside restaurants,
mostly with virtually identical menus listing fera (a
trout-like freshwater fish) and lavaret (another
trout-like freshwater fish).

Perhaps the best is Chez Michelon at La Combe
(00 33 4 79 36 05 02; www.chez-michelon.fr; about €38 per person
without wine), which stands alone on a small rise on the wilder,
eastern shore of the lake. Don't be deceived by the rustic ambience
or the rather gruff Savoyard welcome: a starter such as roasted
scallops served with a 'cappuccino' of Jerusalem artichokes shows
that the chef has aspirations, though luckily he can still grill a
fish and make a decent salad. And at €24, the four- course menu
du marché is great value.Continued >>